feedback on: PIGS & PORK

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Step 9: Hams, shoulders, bacon and trimmings are partially frozen, then cut or ground into sausage. This whole slaughtering process usually takes a full day for my wife and me, and by late that night the hams, etc. are usually firm enough to divide into roasts. (Make sure you spread the packages out in your freezer and turn them once or twice to chill them quickly.) We save the lard in the freezer, too, to be rendered another day.

Step 10: Have swine when you dine!

There you have it, MOTHER. No offense to the Morton Salt people, but the pictures look like they could have been taken at a funeral, with those grim-set faces. Butchering down on the farm can be a joyful, smiling experience. Not that death is funny. An antelope pulled down by a puma or a worm chomped up by a robin isn't amusing, but it's a very real part of life. From doing my own killing, I've gained a much higher regard for my bacon . . . I can respect it as it sits on my plate. There's something inhuman about just buying it and frying it like I used to do in the city.

Robert Selle
Winona, Mo.

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